The Lake of Fire is the Second Death

20: 14-15

DIG: What is Sh'ol?
What happens to it? How is Sh'ol different than
the lake of fire? Why are people thrown into
the lake of fire? How long will they be there? How can
anyone escape the lake of fire? What does Jesus call it? Why?

REFLECT: How can you or your loved ones
avoid the second death and the lake of fire? If
someone deliberately keeps on sinning after
they have received the knowledge of the truth, what
is left for them?

The evidence is indisputable, the verdict given and justice will finally be
carried out. Just as there is a second and higher life in heaven for the
faithful, there is also a second and deeper death in the lake of fire
for the
wicked. Because of that higher life in heaven, there is no more death;
accordingly, after the deeper death in the lake of fire, there will be no more
life. So the lake of fire not only represents the punishment of the enemies of
righteousness but also their full and final defeat.468

Then death itself and Sh'ol with all the wicked dead will be thrown into the
lake of fire (20:14a) where the antichrist, the false prophet (19:20) and Satan
(20:10) were already in agony. The word Sh'ol is used eleven times and is to be distinguished from the word Gehenna,
which refers to the final hell, or the lake of fire. Gehenna is the New Covenant
word for the Valley of Ben Hinnom located southwest of Jerusalem. (also called
Topeth, see the commentary onJeremiah
Cf - They Will Bury the Dead in Topeth). In
the TaNaKh, idolatrous Israelites burned their children in the fire there as
sacrifices to false gods (Jeremiah 19:2-6). In Jesus’ day, it was the site of
Jerusalem’s garbage dump. The fires kept burning day and night, giving off
foul-smelling smoke. Sometimes bodies of criminals were dumped there to burn in
the flames. Therefore, the Valley of Ben Hinnom was a fitting picture of eternal hell
(Matthew 5:22, 29-30, 10:28; 18:9, 23:15 and 33; Mark 9:43, 45, 47; Luke
12:5).469Yeshua called it the outer darkness(Matthew 8:12; 22:13; 25:30 KJV),
and is symbolic of something much worse than the burning fire of Gehenna. It is
the eternal, absolute separation from God, for death apart from Christ
means
separation.470

Throughout the pages of the TaNaKh, both the righteous and the unrighteous
were said to go to a place called Sh'ol in
Hebrew and Hades in the Greek. While the
Levitical sacrifices covered their sins it did not remove their sins
(Hebrews
10:4). Only the death of Messiah could do that. So while the sacrificial
system was sufficient to temporarily cover their sins, it was not able to get them
into heaven. So all who died, both the righteous and the unrighteous, went to a
place known as Sh'ol. It had two compartments (Luke 16:19-31), one was
a place of torment for the wicked and the other, known as Abraham’s side, was a
place of comfort, also called paradise (23:43).
But it was not heaven. The two sides could communicate with each other, but they
were separated by an immense gulf that made it impossible to cross over to the
other side. When the righteous of the TaNaKh died, their bodies went into the
ground, but their souls would go to
Abraham’s side or paradise.
On the other hand, when an unbeliever died, their bodies went in the ground, but
their souls would be tormented on the
unrighteous side of Sh'ol.

When Jesus died, He not only paid the price for all future sins, but
He also
paid the price for all past sins (Romans 3:25; Hebrews 9:15). Therefore,
the sins of the righteous of the TaNaKh were removed. While the body of Yeshua
remained in the tomb, His soul went down to Sh'ol, announcing
that He had redeemed, or bought back, the souls of all the righteous of the
TaNaKh. Then, when Messiah arose from the dead, the righteous
of the TaNaKh were removed from paradise and brought to
heaven (Ephesians 4:8-10). Consequently, the righteous side of
Sh'ol is no long occupied.

Sh'ol was temporary, but the lake of fire will be permanent. I was once the
foreman of a jury that sent a twenty-nine-year-old man to prison for rape. He
was sentenced to thirty years, with five counts of special circumstances, adding
five years for each count. Instead of serving fifty-five years he will probably
serve half that time if he behaves himself. But the incarceration in the lake of
fire is eternal, and eternal is a long, long time.

The lake of fire is the second death (20:14b). This will be the end of the first
death – physical death. This is the good news for believers, but horrible news
for the lost. When they are raised from the dead they will want to die
physically, but they will have new resurrected bodies that cannot be destroyed
in the lake of fire. As a result, their suffering will be eternal. When the
earth is destroyed, people will be in one of two places: the New Jerusalem, or
the lake of fire.471

Death will be finally removed from the scene for believers. No longer will it be
said: In Adam all die(First Corinthians 15:22). Death is
personified because it is man’s greatest enemy. In the TaNaKh we read: I will ransom them from
the power of the grave. I will redeem them from death. Where, O death, are your
plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction (Hosea 13:14). And in the B'rit
Chadashah, Rabbi Sha'ul writes: The last enemy to be destroyed is death . . . Where, O
death, is your victory? Where , O death, is your sting (First Corinthians 15:26
and 55). In both instances, God the Holy Spirit emphasizes through the human
writers, that Jesus has overcome the grave and because
He has overcome the
grave, we, through Him, can also conquer death.

Today, when unbelievers die, their bodies are buried in the ground and their
souls goes to Sh'ol. However, when believers die their, although their bodies
are also buried in the ground, their souls immediately go to heaven to be
with the Lord (Second Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23).

When the first resurrection occurs, the bodies of believers will be resurrected
and reunited with their souls. This will happen at the Rapture for the New
Covenant saints, and after the Second Coming (see Ey – The Seventy-Five Day
Interval), for the righteous of the TaNaKh and the Tribulation Martyrs. When the
second resurrection occurs, the bodies of the unbelievers will be resurrected
and reunited with their souls from Sh'ol.472

If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he or she was thrown
into the lake of fire (20:15). Because the lost will have their names blotted
out of the book of life (Psalm69:28; Exodus 32:30-32), an awful blank spot will
be left in the book where their name should have been. Then they will be worthy
of judgment and thrown into the lake of fire. But everyone whose name
is found written in the book of life – will be delivered (Dani'el 12:1).Jesus said it
this way: He who overcomes will be dressed in white. I
will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his
name before My Father and His angels (3:5).

There is only one way to avoid the terrifying reality of hell. Those who confess
their sins and ask God to forgive them on the basis of Messiah’s substitutionary
death on their behalf will be delivered from His eternal
wrath(Romans 5:9;
First Thessalonians 1:10, 5:9). For those who refuse to repent, however, the
grave warning expressed by the writer to the Hebrews will apply: If we
deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth,
no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of
raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the Torah
died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more
severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of
God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the New Covenant
that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Holy Spirit of grace? For we know
Him who said, “It is mine to avenge, I will repay,” and again, “ADONAI, will
judge His people.” It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living
God (Hebrews 10:26-31).473